By Allie Martin
November 30, 2005

(AgapePress) - An employee at a California company has won the right to adjust her work schedule so she can attend Sunday morning church services. As one pro-family attorney points out, the law was on side of the worker and woman of faith, whether her employer realized it or not.

Isabel Mendoza, who became a Christian last summer, recently asked her employer in Seal Beach (California) for permission to change her work schedule so she could attend church on Sunday mornings. Her employer denied the request, however, and even told the woman that she would have to take a vacation day to attend her own baptism.

Mendoza contacted the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), a pro-family legal group, for assistance in the matter. Brad Dacus, president of the legal education, defense, and policy organization, says the client's employer reversed its original decision not long after receiving a letter explaining what the law says about workers' rights with regard to their religious expression.

Brad Dacus

"The current state of the law is that, unless there is proof of undue hardship, under both state and federal law an employer must take measures to see if an employee can be accommodated with regards to having religious days off, including having Sunday off to go to church," Dacus says. "If employees like Ms. Mendoza are not protected, she would have to choose between keeping and practicing her Christian faith and her ability to have a job."

While employers' responsibilities to accommodate their workers' religious expression can be a "difficult area to navigate," the PJI spokesman admits, he adds that the law is unequivocal on this point. The statute "clearly says that, if the employer is not going to suffer an undue burden or hardship, [it must] reasonably accommodate an employee's religious beliefs and convictions to practice their faith," he asserts.

"In 99 percent of the circumstances, there's no reason why an employer should not allow an employee to be able to have time off to go to church," Dacus notes. But because the legal issues involved can be tricky for all parties concerned, he says PJI is glad to assist both employers and employees of faith who wish to understand their rights and opportunities in the workplace.